Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
- 2-player local multiplayer support.
- Feel the thrill of Quidditch as the Wii Remote and Nunchuck become your broomstick and you speed through the stadium.
- Defeat the Dark Forces as you use the Wii Remote as your wand to duel your way through the story of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
- Perfect your potion-mixing skills using the Wii Remote to stir, shake and pour potions from the Half-Blood Prince?s recipes.
- When you get stuck, call on Nearly Headless Nick for clues and tips to help you complete your challenges.
Year six at Hogwarts’ darker tone means more action, potions, puzzles, and, of course, more Voldemort. But, it’s not all doom and gloom as even the videogame world addresses Harry’s growing adoration for Ginny. Wii, PS2, PS3, PSP, Mac, PC, DS, Xbox 360, Electronic Arts, T. Based on the 2009 summer movie blockbuster of the same name, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince transports fans both old and new to the beloved and action-filled video game universe of Har
List Price: $ 29.99
Price: $ 57.99
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The Worst Harry Potter Game Yet,
It is clear that when constructing the 6th installment in the HP video game series, the developers were extremely limited by the Wii remote. There are only 3 things that one can do in this game: Quidditch, Potions, and Dueling. All three are extremely boring and poorly constructed.
1. Quidditch: I started a flying session, set my remote down, and Harry flew through every single obstacle and caught the snitch. The game is already preloaded within a set path and you can’t fly more than 3 inches away at any given time. Extremely boring.
2. Potions: It is fun to make a potion for the first few times but after the third time it gets tedious. The same movements of shaking the Wii remote and spinning it around in the air dominate this aspect of the game.
3. Dueling: Dueling is the best part of the Harry Potter game but it takes no skill at all. All one must do is flick the Wii remote as quickly as possible and he/she can defeat the opponent in a matter of seconds.
Overall I am extremely disappointed in this game. I have every Harry Potter game in the series and this is the only one that disappoints. There is no exploring of the castle or its grounds as one must stay on the path at all given times. There are more cutscenes than there is playing time. Every mission is either to duel, make a potion, or fly in the poorly constructed Quidditch pitch.
This game is a complete failure in every regard. I might have bought it for $[...] but absolutely no more than that amount. I recommend the last 5 games which were amazing and exciting.
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|Half-Blood ain’t Half-Bad!,
Beware: If you aren’t familiar with the storylines in the HP books, specifically “The Half-Blood Prince” a.k.a. book 6….the game reveals a extended cinema variation on events…so SPOILER WARNINGS….okay? Some book edits the game makes maybe in the Movie as is…others, we’ll see…
Harry is beginning his 6th year at Hogwarts, it is believed Harry is the Choosen One of prophecy, who will deliever the wizarding world from the clutches of the re- ascension of evil Lord Voldemort…Dumbledore begins Harry’s private lessons again using the Pensieve to educate Harry about his adversary and Harry needs a key memory from newly returing Potion’s Master Prof. Slughorn inorder to defeat Voldemort….Harry is also eager to learn the origin a his secret benefactor “The Half-Blood Prince” who as filled Harry’s hand-me-down Potions textbook with helpful hints and spells… also Harry begins his quest towards the defeat of his nemesis in a climax that ultimately leads to infiltration of Voldemort’s Death Eaters into the very walls of Hogwarts itself.
If you played the Wii version of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” then the game (and Hogwarts) will feel quite homey. Old faithful spells return from the last adventure like EXPELLARMUS, INCENDIO, WIGARDIUM LEVIOSA, ACCIO and REPARO. Spells like STUPEFY can be charged to increase their effectiveness. Many spells are automatic to the character’s location, like LUMOS will light your way in dark places. The remote spell gestures are similar as is the layout of the castle…for those of you new to Harry for the Wii…the remote spell casting is great fun, doing the wand work yourself, for example with PROTEGO, a deflecting spell, you cross your arms like an “x” you can bounce your opponent’s shot back at them.
You still have plenty of out-of-story freedom to roam and perform good deeds and mini-adventures to earn crests and badges, like other HP games Hogwarts is expansive and authentic, you can run and use shortcuts to cut down on travel time, but a more improvement is Harry’s ability to summon NEARLY HEADLESS NICK anywhere in the castle. NICK will lead Harry to the next story point when you’re ready. Gone is the functional Marauder’s map, although unlocked sections of the castle are revealed via the map.
Slughorn’s Potion’s Class and the Potions Club allows Harry to enjoy his new found potion prowess thanks to the Half-Blood Prince’s old Potions textbook. The Potions Club is for out-of-class potions work, but as in the classroom players can really mix the potions akin to COOKING MAMA, adding the ingredients, shaking, stirring and adjusting potion temperature, even to wave the smoke away….all by remote gestures.
When not concocting potions a new Dueling and Flying Club has been added…early in the game the Gryffindor Dueling Club is introduced, not part of actual movie or story events…the Dueling Club is a great excuse to fire off combat spells, even offering a 2-PLAYER OPTION. The Flying Club allows Harry, the newly named Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team some extra broom-work.
Quidditch practice and game sessions largely consist of flying through stars to increase your speed to catch the snitch to end the game, while fending off rival players over and around the pitch.
Extras like all the Harry games this one has Harry collecting crest like Mario’s Galaxy star grabbing…using DEPULSO, you can find and collect hidden ones and other spells along the way… they add up to unlockables and such. Also Harry’s good deeds aren’t rewards in themselves…jobs well done earn Harry badges throughout the game…forming a collection for later display, like the Wizard cards of old. In fact, after the story plot points are all covered players can continue to find the remaining crests, solve disputes between students (this usually involves a Wizard’s Duel) and potion challenges.
The Wii’s strength is usually is only weakness…in the motion play of the remotes is the tool that makes the game so interesting is sometimes what interferes with game play…at times to controls miss the mark and gestures are incorrectly interpreted. But, overall these mishaps are few. The look and feel of the game mirrors the movie style down to the music and actor’s images….this is a great precursor to the film experience as was the last Wii HP movie tie-in. Some moments in the game I hope play out as well in the movie….Harry’s misfires at love, Ron’s misadventures with love-potion spiked candy…playing Love-sick Ron is very funny as is the Jazzy/swing variation on the HP theme while using the Luck-potion!
HEADS UP: EA Games is remaking their Harry Potter LEGO games for early part of the New Year….the first installment will cover books 1-4…the original HP games focused too much on building, but the new LEGO/EA Games format (Like Star Wars and Indy)…
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|Bring it on, Voldy!,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for Wii is definitely the best Harry Potter video game to date. If you’re familiar with the video game series, then you probably know that games one through three are very similar, while four sort of . . . stands alone. The sixth game is VERY much like the fifth game. You have a very similar (yet updated) Hogwarts, characters that are made to look their movie counterparts, and even a similar spell list.
Hogwarts is awesome. I dunno if you’ve heard, but this game is supposed to have the most accurate castle of any of the games. You can get lost in it, yes, but after a while, it’s cool to be able to say you can navigate the place. In terms of exploration, in this game you collect silver Hogwarts crests. There are 150 in all, and they’re sneaky little things, I tell ya. You also collect mini crests, and when you collect enough of those, they combine to make a whole crest. The best part – No Moaning Myrtle swooping in at you and being a creeper like in the last game. It’s sort of more like wizard cards from the games of old.
Graphically, the game is superior in every way to the last one. Remember, though, we’re still working with a Wii, which has less power than a 360 or Playstation 3. In addition, the Harry Potter games have always had a lot more STUFF in them at sort of a lower quality. You won’t be in awe at the cut scenes, but it’s not like we’ve reverted to Pong here, people. And the actual PLAYING part of the game looks much nicer than any of the videos, as per usual . . .
Magic. That’s what we play the game for, right? So then it had BETTER have a ton in it! And it does . . . to some extent. Two spells have been eliminated since the last game: Accio and Depulso. Now, they’ve managed to work depulso into the game in a different way. You sort of . . . attack glowing things with your Wii Remote, causing mini-crests to fall out. There’s no real flash or boom, but it’s been dubbed depuslo, so . . . whatever, I guess. I don’t know how Accio fits in, either. Of all the things I’m disappointed with in this game, it’s the lack of new spells that irks me most. In the words of J.K. Rowling — “HAVE YOU GONE MAD? . . . ARE YOU A WITCH OR NOT?” Apparently not as much as we thought . . .
BUT, there are some pretty cool additions that make up for it. The number one thing is extra curriculars! In this game, you now have a Dueling Club, a Potions Club, and a Flying Club.
Dueling is SO much better than the last game. You actually have a health bar [type thingy]! And spells can be cast much more easily. They also don’t take forever between casts, so you can fire off a dozen stupifys in like a second. Just . . . how it should have been last time. All of your old spells return for this one, except Rictusempra, which is replaced with a delightful “Charged Stupify.” I thought it was a fair trade . . . Anyways, dueling is a definite PLUS! And be aware that YES, your first duels will be very easy, but they DO get more difficult as the game progresses.
As for potions . . . it’s different. It’s a fun little mini game that they drop in, and I’m proud of how it utilizes the Wii Remote. I suppose I could live without it, but it’s definitely enjoyable. ESPECIALLY because my little sister is afraid to play any REAL part of the game, so when I get to a potion she has a chance to actually do something.
As for Quiditch . . . well, I’m reminded of the second game, where you follow a set track. The camera does a lot of the work for you, and, to be honest, the earlier games and practices are quite boring. As the game progresses, however, it DOES force you to pay attention by placing obstacles and enemy players in your way. It starts slow, but definitely gets better!
My final thing is this: While this game is multiplayer, it does not support cooperative gameplay. Your friends can’t play with Ron and Hermione and explore the castle with you, which is a shame, because I can definitely see bonding opportunities there. You’re, unfortunately, restricted to dueling each other.
So yeah! I really liked it, and I’d definitely go out and buy it again, so you should too!
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